Life is Pain
by Forrestib
Summary: Anna and Elsa lost their parents to a storm on the seas. Little do they know that something else had a hand in their parents' disappearance. The ship wouldn't have been caught in the storm if something hadn't damaged their sails first. Life is pain. The man in black knows this better than most. The loss of a father is pain beyond measure.


Author's notes:

This story takes place in the same universe as my other story, "Frozen Hearts and Minds". It's not required that you read both, but they do somewhat support each other in some ways. Don't be too surprised by the numerous references to other disney works and fairy tales. Those sort of come with the universe.

* * *

King Christopher took the hand of his wife, queen Katherine. They walked down the stairs to say goodbye to their daughter, Elsa, the crown princess of Arendelle.

Elsa looked up at her parents, "Do you have to go?"

Katherine nodded, "I'm afraid so. We need to tell the Council about your magic now that you're 18. If we don't and they discover, they will have the right to declare you unfit for the throne. We can't let that happen."

Elsa argued, "But what if something goes wrong? What if I can't control it? I can't rule a kingdom that fears me."

Christopher reassured her, "Robert Drake will be ruling in your stead while we're away. Trust me. You'll be fine, Elsa."

Elsa took a deep breath, "Ok, goodbye."

Christopher nodded to his daughter and walked towards the docks.

When they arrived at the ship one of the crewmen was shouting at the captain.

"You can't go out tonight. It's suicide and you know it! The Dread Pirate Roberts'll sink us the minute we leave dock."

Christopher questioned the sailor, "Who is this pirate? Roberts you say?"

The captain snickered, "A legend, nothing more. The sailors of Guilder fear a ghost. The pirate Roberts sailed more than half a century ago. There's no way on God's blue earth that one man could stay a pirate for that long and live to tell the tale. The dread pirate is long dead."

The crewman shook his head, "These winds hail from Florin. You can scuttle your own ship if you like but I won't go down with you. Find yourself a new first mate."

Christopher was concerned, "Captain? Are you sure it's safe? This trip can wait another week if there's any danger."

The captain shook his head, "No danger your majesty. We can leave at once."

Katherine smiled at this, "Good, the sooner we leave the sooner we can be back to normal."

She gestured for a servant to move their baggage onto the boat. The king and queen boarded the vessel and it left for Aurumere.

It never arrived.

A few hours after they had left dock Christopher saw a storm in the distance, "Captain? That storm is coming towards us. Are we going to be able to outrun it?"

The captain smirked, "Of course we are. This is the fastest ship west of Andalasia. We can outrun anything."

Several hours later the king and queen went to sleep under deck. Not too long after that one of the crew saw something else approaching, "Captain! There's a ship approaching us. These are pirate waters. Should we ready the cannons?"

The captain answered offhandedly, "If it's not a shadow we can outrun it. It's not a problem."

About an hour later the crewman looked back to where he had seen the ship. It was still there, and it was bigger, "Captain, that ship is definitely chasing us, and it's getting closer."

The captain ran over and looked off towards their tail, "Inconceivable, ready the cannons! That vessel flies the black flag. They will not let us go without a fight, and we're not going to give up without one."

When the ship caught up with them the battle was short. Their cannons couldn't pierce the pirate's hull. They were quickly boarded.

Christopher awoke to hear his wife scream. He sat up to see a man all in black holding a sword to her throat.

The man in black spoke in a heavy Spanish accent, "When the crew told me they had valuable cargo they didn't say it was this valuable. The king and queen of Arendelle, I am honored."

Christopher held back his terror enough to speak in a calm voice, "The Dread Pirate Roberts I presume."

The man smiled, "The one and only."

Christopher looked at the blade up against his wife's throat, "Are you going to kill us?"

The man in black thought before answering, "If I do not it could spoil my reputation. But if I do then I can't ransom you back to your kingdom."

Christopher remained brave, "That sounds like quite the dilemma. I would advise you on the subject but I think we both know I would be fairly biased."

The man shrugged, "Perhaps. The ransom money would be quite substantial. However my ship only has one holding cell. Trust me, you do not want to share."

"I can sleep almost anywhere you can put me. Do you have lockable storage areas?"

"Full of Midas' gold at the moment."

Christopher hardened his resolve and bit his lip, "Then you can throw me overboard. Ransom my wife. I can die in peace knowing that she'll get home to our daughters safe and sound."

The dread pirate looked at the king. He thought for what felt like hours. And then he spoke, "Alright, here's my deal. I take you with me on the Revenge. Then I fire my cannons at this ship's sails to make it look like they got away. When they get back to Arendelle they can tell everyone that you died in the battle. Your wife gets to return home and I get to resurrect you whenever I decide I want the money. If you make any trouble on my ship I reserve the right to kill you. Deal?"

Christopher thought about it, "How will they get back to shore without sails?"

Roberts answered quickly, "I'll only damage the sails. The nearest shoreline is only 3 days standard sailing northwest of here. They'll be fine, probably."

"Then we have a deal."

The pirate walked back out onto the deck and the king explained their deal to the crew. Once Christopher was locked in the brig on the Revenge, Roberts released Katherine back onto her own ship. The vessel under the black flag fired several shots through the Arendellian sails, crippling the royal boat.

Several hours later the storm overtook the slower vessel. There were no survivors.

The next day Christopher awoke to the clanging of a sword against the bars of his cell.

The pirate's spaniard voice cut through his slumber, "Breakfast."

Christopher looked at the dirty tray with stale bread and rum. Better than nothing. He ate.

The pirate had him working all day. He cleaned the deck. He moved barrels inside when it looked like rain. He lowered nets to catch Roberts' dinner, then he cooked it. He didn't get any. He ate more stale bread and rum.

When the day was over he climbed back into his cell. The pirate locked it and said to him, "Goodnight Christopher. Good work. Sleep well. I'll most likely kill you in the morning."

The next day he awoke, still very much alive, and the next day, and the next day, and the next day...

* * *

Author's notes:

So I kept one of them alive. I'd like to think I did it in an interesting way. Feedback would be much appreciated. Thanks for reading ( =


End file.
